Building Science

In their life cycle, the estates can be impacted by time and many operating requirements: climatic stress, mechanical and physicochemical constraints, regulatory and normative changes, changes in land use or zoning. These factors are likely to affect the building and cause damages, disorders or accidents and so material damages or damages to human health.

Gradually, the civil engineering laboratories have extended their expertise in instrumentation to offer measurement and support services to this division which is growing rapidly.

Groupe ABS meets your needs and those of your works by providing inspection, sampling and analysis, as well as design and monitoring services. Our qualified staff, who has a good knowledge of building science, can identify the disorders, determine their sources and propose corrective recommendations. Groupe ABS also assists you in the monitoring of your real assets through instrumentation solutions and management support.

It is generally estimated that the building sector represents more than 30% of the final energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions of most industrialized countries. This sector has an energy saving potential in the short and medium term higher than most other sector.

Building envelope, Waterproofing

Acting as a separation between inside and outside, the building envelope provides multiple functions such as waterproofing, thermal and acoustic insulation, ventilation, smoke extraction, fire safety, natural lighting, maintenance… It directly contributes to the aesthetics of buildings and protects them against environmental aggressions. It can also be at the origin of a new type of space and a new kind of relationship between users and environment.

Groupe ABS’s building science staff can work on the main components of the building envelope, such as roofs, facades and flat surfaces waterproofing (terraces or multi-storey parking garage).

In addition to support property owners and estate managers in planning the maintenance activities, our engineers and technicians working in building science contribute directly to achieve energy efficiency goals fixed by the applicable regulations.

Because the control of energy consumption has become an issue for industrialized societies, the development of more advanced measurement tools in the building sector is the order of the day.

Buildings are also a public safety issue. Roof collapsing or facades failures can cause harmful accidents. By providing measurement services, control and monitoring of these elements of the building envelope, our engineers and technicians directly contribute to the safety of all.

The wide range of customers in building science engineering is as large as the many different types of uses for all buildings in our surroundings : housing owners, property managers, real-estate park owners, builders or developers, managers of municipal assets, government and schools.

Thierry Ségard, M.Sc.

Building envelope, Waterproofing

Until recently, considered only as a passive facade, an object separating environments, the building envelope is nowadays entrusted with a key role in achieving the overall performance of the building. It is now described by specialists as “intelligent”, “alive” or “biomimetic” facade.

Thierry Ségard

Asbestos & Air Quality

With S-Air, Groupe ABS has its own industrial hygiene subsidiary.

In operation since 2006, S-Air is an industrial hygiene specialized firm with experienced and multidisciplinary employees. Since its creation, S-Air has focused its activities and developed its expertise in the management of projects related to asbestos and air quality.

Sébastien Roberge, T.P.

Asbestos & Air Quality

Groupe ABS

Founded in 1993 and established in many Quebec regions, Groupe ABS offers a wide range of services in construction site supervision, soil & materials laboratory testing, building science, geotechnical and environmental engineering. Groupe ABS possesses specialized divisions in drilling and road markings which permits us to produce turnkey projects. In all, Groupe ABS employs more than 500 people.